Incident Report: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - Carswell AFB, Texas, 13 February 1953

On 13 February 1953, at approximately 0235 hours, a civilian observer at the Convair Aircraft Plant in Fort Worth, Texas, reported seeing three bright lights in the sky. The observer, identified as Mr. J. V. Ruth, described the lights as being stacked in a vertical echelon, moving from the east-southeast at a moderate speed. The lights were described as white, with the center light appearing bluish-green. Over a period of 10 to 15 minutes, the objects performed complex maneuvers, including rapid acceleration, pendulum-like swinging motions, and a steep climb to an altitude of 20,000 feet. No sound was reported. Shortly after the visual sighting, radar operators on a B-36 aircraft attempted to track the objects using their APG-41A tail radar. They successfully picked up two blips, which were described as sharp returns compared to the B-36 target, though they eventually disappeared into the radar noise. The incident was reported to the 19th Air Division and subsequently forwarded to the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) for analysis under Project Blue Book. Initial reports from the base were deemed insufficient for a thorough evaluation, leading to a request for additional technical data. Following the submission of an Electronics Data Sheet and further correspondence, ATIC analysts concluded that the radar returns were likely the result of ground clutter exacerbated by a temperature inversion, which was confirmed by weather data from the time of the incident. The visual sighting was attributed to aircraft activity. The report includes detailed correspondence between the 19th Air Division and ATIC, as well as technical radar data sheets and meteorological charts used to support the final assessment that the phenomena were not anomalous.